There is something beautiful to simultaneously designing a project while executing upon it. Knowing what the end result is makes the development a series of layers that can build or detract on one another. Here is the map of the experience/execution;

Anywhere there was a blue dot, I added a coded message either in braille, morse code, or Bacon’s cipher.

I gathered the ingredients one by one starting with the gifts:

The schedule would be as follows:

12.22.14 – 0. Laser pointer

12.25.14 – 1. Projector

1.15.15 – 2. Wand

2.15.15 – 3. Mirror

3.15.15 – 4. Access Card

4.1.15 – ♥. Assembly Delivery | One year past the day that we first met.

The initial idea was of the Assembly 2 was to integrate the first Assembly so they could come together. However, I wanted this to be more about me reflecting on her as she did with me with hers. Therefore, everything had to eventually need to evoke a singular perspective with an introspective context while coming from an extrinsic source. Each of the first four deliveries was wrapped in a white box with a red ribbon as a nod to her assembly gift to me back in October.

Therefore, each tool needed to relate to the next or be somewhat tangentially related. I also made sure on the last four deliveries to set a consistent schedule of 6:00pm in the Arbitrarium — a place we sit and discuss life. Each evening starts with a written poem or clue that make Amina have to search the room for the month’s component.

On December 22, 2014, we were on our way to Michigan. In the airport, I gave her #0-the laser pointer and said, “A gift. This is close to it, but not quite right. Perhaps you should hold onto this as it might come in useful later.” She was very excited to use it, but I had to hold her back as I wasn’t sure what TSA might have to say about using a laser pointer near aircraft.

On December 25, 2014, I deliver #1-The projection box. It was accompanied by the note in pig pen cipher, ” To touch the heart, one must first start on the outside of its house. With time, the heart will greet you at the door when it trusts you.” On it’s own, this particular gift was very obscure. This was critical to keep the Assembly 2 in a mysterious context.

January 15, 2015, we sit down in the Arbitrarium once more to go through a gauntlet of clues and searching to find #2-The wand. This was accompanied by a verbal presentation of, “I’m magnetically attracted to you, so please, take this. You may need it in the not-so-distant future.”

On February 15, 2015, as we sit in the Arbitrarium, she receives the box with the mirror and in braille a message reads, “Reflect on yourself, your history, your future.” She very quickly realized that the mirror fit into the projection box and put the parts together, but we weren’t done yet.

March 15, 2015 I deliver a two clues. These two clues lead her on a search around the house for these two envelopes:

The envelopes when overlaid would make the original symbol that I sent to her when this whole thing started:

These both contain acetate prints. One has a smattering of A’s and one with B’s. By themselves, the acetates are meaningless. But like the envelopes themselves, if overlaid, create meaning through Bacon’s Cipher.

This reads “Under the place our lips first touched.” Inside the couch storage, was #4. Once she tracked it down, she was greeted with this:

When she picked it up, I said to her, “Welcome home.” This was a final clue before she would get the last component before the reveal of the Assembly.

When she pulled the “4” off, she was greeted with a lock. The “welcome home” indicated that her house key that I gave her would articulate the lock. She unlocked the lid, and revealed the access card written in braille:

This component fit into the projection box and completed the projection system as shown here:

When illuminated, the laser fires the beam through a diffusing paper, hits the mirror, and shines through the morse code.

This reads, “2DEDGE, SIDE, VERTEX”. Think about the properties of a cube that I mentioned in part 4.

It should also be noted that 18 days before April 1, 2015, I left daily voicemails at midnight each day : “Begin Transmission.” L,S,BLANK, E,BLANK,I, H,BLANK,T,N,V,T,L,E,BLANK,D,E,I,A,I,S,O,BLANK,”End Transmission.” This will make sense eventually.

When I asked Amina about her experience about this entire gauntlet of mystery, she replied that, “It was exciting and curious and the anticipation was half the fun.”

One Comment on “The Assembly Saga | Part 5”

[…] As mentioned in Part 4 the Assembly would be a cube. That’s five sides of exploration plus the base. Measuring 1′ x 1′ x 1′, the cube would greet Amina with Side 1 facing her after completing the projector box from Part 5. […]